Bleav in The Comedy Bureau Field Report

The beginning of every year, as far as comedy is concerned, can be celebrated with the venerable SF Sketchfest , one of the biggest, most respected, longest running comedy festivals in the world. It's three weeks of hundreds of shows and thousands of the best performers in comedy all over San Francisco making for the first big comedy event of the calendar year. Of course, that can't happen this ye...

Performing stand-up comedy on a street corner, unannounced in Riverside might be quite the risky, lonely proposition. However, given the times of COVID-19 that we’re still very much in, we’re not afforded much else in live comedy. Thusly, Aaron Chase, currently based in Riverside, has tried to busk on the corner, unannounced, with his stand-up … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/pr...

On the week of the 100th episode of his delightful podcast, Hunk, Mike Bridenstine recounts the long winding journey to that 100 eps. mark as well as how the pandemic inspired him to change his podcast format for the better, specifically by adding a panel discussion by comedian (a facet of comedy that needs reinvigorating in … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Californi...

It’s the first ep. 0f 2021 and the future of comedy is still very, very much up in the air. Not only is the pandemic set to probably keep live comedy a precarious endeavor through a good portion of 2021, but what will be left on the other side of the pandemic in regards to … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-...

Was it the year that comedy took a “little nap”? Was it a year where the effects of the pandemic will forever change the business dynamics and artistic direction of the art form of comedy? Were the latest seasons of Corporate and What We Do In The Shadows some of the year’s best TV? As … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/pr...

Rising star filmmaker Zane Rubin has craftily built a delightful filmography of darkly comedic and hysterically discomforting work. That ranges from short films to web series and everything in between at networks like Comedy Central and the like. As you might guess, she, like the rest of Tinseltown, had to set almost all of her … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Califo...

The proliferation of virtual comedy due to the COVID-19 pandemic would naturally bring about the creation/transition of entire platforms/venues/etc. in order to serve a gradual mass exodus of comedy, for the time being, into the live-streaming sphere. Jill Paiz-Bourque founded RushTix to serve that exact purpose and has done quite well with building and creating … Continued See Privacy Policy at h...

Andrew Max Levy is one of the LA comedy scene’s favorite comedy photographers. He has been covering the beat for local LA shows for some time now and has even shot outdoor shows during the pandemic (when it was safe to do so and if shows were taking enough precaution/enacting enough protocol). TCB’s Jake Kroeger … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Not...

One of the realities of this pandemic era of live comedy is “drive-in shows”. As far as we know, a historic precedent is being set by those in comedy that organize and go and perform comedy in front of a parking lot of cars due to COVID-19 closing all indoor comedy venues. Two of those … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/pr...

Chris Gethard has not only built his career in comedy on his own terms, but Gethard has also built beautiful communities around so much of his work. From his public access days to the cable days of The Chris Gethard Show all the way to his current podcast, Beautiful Anonymous, there is something special about … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice...

At the top of 2020, Morgan Jay was riding high off of his network TV appearances on Bring the Funny, playing colleges across the country, and being set to make a run at the world famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival. COVID-19, of course, put a full stop to all of that, but that didn’t hold Jay … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.co...

Before COVID-19 took hold, a new form of “clowning” that was so much more rebellious and absurd than most other live comedy, or even any clowning you likely would have seen in the past, had really started to take hold in Los Angeles. Through the last few years, such inspired, spirited, and ingenious performers like … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy...

LA scene favorite Chris Estrada was poised for a great 2020 before the pandemic took hold. Now, 8 months into lockdown, Estrada is, thankfully, still getting some great things that he deserves coming his way like a HBO Latino Entre Nos special premiering later this month. Estrada zooms with TCB’s Jake Kroeger about weathering the … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Cali...

You might have come across the magnificent comedy of James Austin Johnson via one of many spectacular, spot-on, yet absurdly bent Trump impressions, but one ought to know that Johnson has been offering up hysterical flights of absurdist comedy fancy for several years (even some of which was captured on our TCB compilation album). Johnson … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy...

Lost Moon Radio, for our money, has long been a paragon of what a comedy group can be. Part high concept sketch comedy, part live musical comedy, part respected theater company, Lost Moon Radio has been putting on their runs for their one-of-a-kind live shows up in and around LA for over decade and, in … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at htt...

The COVID-19 pandemic upended comedy with its arrival and its furthering duration has forced comedy folks to further adapt to a world that’s as unsure as it has ever been. Accomplished comedian and writer Matt Kirshen shares, with TCB’s Jake Kroeger, his journey in quarantine that has led him from his last big writing gig, The … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Califor...

Jamel Johnson was one of the first comedians to record a special in all of quarantine during this COVID-19 pandemic with the audience-less Friend or Foe. He’s also done a remote segment on Conan, kept up a basketball podcast going during the NBA Playoffs, and managed to do some of LA’s newly minted outdoor shows, which … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Priv...

The great Sean Patton, one of  our all time favorites, is this week’s esteemed guest on the TCB Field Report. Right now, he’s one of a rare few that’s gotten to headline live in-person (outdoor and socially distanced) shows around the country (where COVID-19 isn’t so rampant right at the moment). Sean zooms with TCB’s … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Priva...

Fifi Dosch has taken one hell of a road to get where she is now as a trans woman who, after achieving her goal of getting to the status of paid regular at one of the most legendary comedy clubs in the world, The Comedy Store, found that there was something still very much missing … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#...

It takes a special sort of comedian to release their very first hour of comedy during a global pandemic after going through recording it far from home in the UK. Lisa Curry is that special sort of comedian on top of having a really great penchant for dark humor. Curry zooms with TCB’s Jake Kroeger … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://...

Before lockdown, one of LA’s best comedy shows, sometimes described as one of the best indie comedy shows in the entire country happened on Sunday Nights at The Chatterbox in Covina. Steve Hernandez not only built the show from the ground up over several years, but has also grown his own personal podcast empire in … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy N...

To pull of a live-stream stand-up show is hard just as it. To do it consistently and charge and have a dedicated audience that’s willing to pay in an unprecedented time of economic fallout is truly amazing. That’s what Carmen Morales has done with her recurring live-stream Zoom stand-up show, Social D. Carmen zooms with … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Pri...

The Pack Theater here in LA has always been a small, but mighty theater with its verve and boundary pushing and irrefutable sense of community. Artistic Director Elyssa Phillips has been a big part of building that spirit and keeping it going under the pall of this pandemic. Phillips zooms with TCB’s Jake Kroeger and … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privac...

Emma Willmann has pioneered like so few have into the great unknown of doing stand-up in person in an indoors venue under the shadow of COVID-19. She also has driven all around the the U.S. of A and getting tested and quarantining from coast to coast. As this week’s guest on TCB Field Report, she … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://a...

The brilliant Kyle Kinane hops on Zoom with TCB’s Jake Kroeger for this week’s Field Report with just having released his latest album, a comedic work of grandeur called Trampoline in a Ditch. Jake and Kyle talk the thought behind releasing a 100 minute comedy album and the phenomenon of the podcast fan via Kinane’s shows … Continued See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California P...